[Arc] How To Smash People In The Face And Make Friends, Part One: How to Make Friends (Closed)

Spoiler:

The Azure Night. A ship that most people wouldn't even recognize as a pirate ship. And yet, it did indeed carry a mostly reluctant crew of pirates. Thankfully, each and every member of the crew took their job seriously. Of course, given a chance, some of them would likely ditch their position in favor of living a normal life. Really, Alexa couldn't blame them if they did. She was only living this life because of a single accident. Still, they were on course for Karate Island. They had a few trinkets taken from minor pirate crews that were harassing civilians, along with a need to restock the kitchen. Alexa figured that would also give the people on her ship a chance to decide if they really wanted to continue to live a life of piracy. Still, when the island came up in the distance, the young captain couldn't help but grin. It was an exciting prospect for her, even now. She got a bit of a rush from sailing the seas like this, even if she was more at risk of drowning than anyone else. Still, she supposed that it'd be a good idea to alert the crew.

"We're coming up on land people! Everyone man their stations so that we can properly dock the ship this time!" She yelled out, her voice carrying quite well as the ship sailed in silence for a few moments..at least, until everyone on the ship got scrambling to their places. Once they were in place, it only took twenty minutes for them to be properly docked. After opening both doors to the treasury, she watched as several of the general crew members carried the gold, spices, and other valuable materials out to the market. She smiled a bit. They were doing a wonderful job just passing as a merchant ship. Still, she figured now was as good a time as ever to wander around. Her crew knew what they were doing with the materials they needed to sell. So, with a shrug, Alexa raised her arms up over her head, stretching as she turned on her heel and walked into town.

That was where things got..strange, to say the least. People seemed to be crowding around a specific area. There was a tournament going on it seemed. And from what Alexa was able to see after she used her power to swim underneath everyone that was blocking her view, it was a martial arts tournament. She raised her eyebrow at that. Once the match itself ended, Alexa lightly elbowed someone next to her in the side, and asked what the tournament was about, and if it was still open to potential entrants.

"Oh, you mean the Disciple of Discipline? Yeah, it's open to entrants. Usually it wouldn't be, but for some reason competitors keep turning up dead and drained. We don't know what's going on. The local authorities are investigating, but until they figure things out, the festival is still accepting new entrants. It really has been put into a reset moment, because we don't have enough people to hold a true 'tournament'. These fights are just bits of showmanship really." He explained, causing Alexa to nod as she listened. Really, she shouldn't have been interested. She fought with weapons. Her sword and her grenades. And yet, something about this whole situation intrigued her. She had some skill in Martial Arts. Really, living on the streets and stowing away as often as she did resulted in a need to have skill with them.

A few more questions led Alexa to the center of town, where there was a man set up at a desk. She walked up to him. "So, I take it this is where we sign up for the tournament?" She asked, her expression being fairly normal. The man suddenly seemed to jolt up, as if he had been surprised. Once he was fully sat up his open eyes..opened? Wait, what? A closer examination led Alexa to see that this man had painted eyes onto his eyelids. She chuckled softly as the man at the desk asked what she had asked. When she repeated herself, the man chuckled. "Well..you see, this is really only considered a tournament by the people that live here. In all reality, its a free for all brawl that we require people to sign a waiver for before entry. All it says is that the coordinators of this brawl are not responsible for any harm done to the people who enter. The obvious exception to this is fatal injuries. Something that has become all too common, as I'm sure you've heard." He explained, causing Alexa to nod. "Yeah..I did hear about that. Any idea what's going on with it?" She asked, causing the man to visibly look nervous.

"W..well..the official ruling is that more investigation needs to be done..But..personally? I think that someone's hunting down the competition. Someone with a devil fruit." He said, his voice having dropped to a whisper. That actually intrigued her a bit more. "Really? Aren't those supposed to just be myths though?" She asked, beginning a blatant lie now. The man nodded, but held his position. A bit of small talk about the fruits themselves ensued, and then Alexa brought the discussion back to its intended purpose. "On a lighter note, what are the rules for this? I would assume no weapons, but are there any other extenuating rules?" She asked, her head tilting to the side a tad.

"Ah, yes actually. The other restriction is that there is no use of any supernatural powers, such as the aforementioned Devil Fruits. We've had a few people with unexplainable powers enter the tournament before and decimate the competition, but none of us can prove that it was a Devil Fruit user. As such, we are just throwing supernatural power in general into this ruling. Aside from that, it should be noted that you can only win by submission. Ring outing is not in effect." He explained, causing a chuckle from Alexa. Oh well. This seemed like an interesting situation. Maybe she could stay here for a few days..give the crew a much deserved break. Without much hesitation, she signed off on the Waiver, and her name was added to the list. Now..time to go see about those weapons she needed. Her grenades and sword were well and good..but she needed something that wasn't so blatantly stolen from the Marines..

"Goodbye, son” were the last words he heard as he headed out and on his way to one of the bigger villages with a port. He figured that it would be the best place to try and convince someone of his usefulness to get on a ship and off the island. But for now all that stood in his way was about an hour walk to the village while he thought of the different ways to convince someone.

The sun was high overhead as Ryoma finally approached the village and noticed that it was a lot fuller than it usually was. Though it was quite full he still heard the people mutter when he passed “Isn't that Ryoma he was suppose to be the next great blacksmith on the island, but look at his hands they are covered it must be true about what happened no wonder he doesn't come here anymore.” Ryoma just kept walking trying not to pay attention to the idle chatter, but the the crowd grew more and more as he drew closer to the stadium. He just wanted to get to the docks and either buy a ship or try and join a crew, then remember ships are quite expensive,checking his money he knew he couldn't afford more then maybe a dingy, so he figured his only choice was to join a crew.

As he pushed past the crow and found himself by the docks, he saw a couple ships trying to find one that would take him off this island. He figured his best bet was to join a merchant ship to go to a bigger island with more of a pirate presence seeing as how he could never join with the marines. His eyes found their way to The Azure Night.  It was a beauty of a ship and he even saw some people on it, so Ryoma thought to himself “maybe they are about to set sail this would be perfect for me.” He then called up to the ship from the docks “Hello up there, I was wondering if I could speak with the captain at all.” Someone called down saying “Captain ain't here right now, she went into town to see what the crowd was about, she has blue hair you can't miss her.” Ryoma yelled back up “Thank you!” With that he rushed off to the crowd again.

He got back to the crowd and didn't see anyone with blue hair. So he decided to try and get closer to the front, while excusing himself through the crowd he caught a hint of blue hair at the sign in table but before he could get to her she had already left. So he decided to ask the attendant “Do you know who she is, And where she is going?” The attendant stared at him before saying “You know I can't reveal personal info like that, only way for you to find out is if you sign up for the tournament. Come on Ryoma we all heard about what happened and that you've been train those hands and feet. We all wanna see what you can do after learn from your father, though those gloves and leggings you have can't be used. Sorry new rule no weapons, armor, or other special abilities, you know like devil fruit and stuff.” Ryoma dejectedly sighed and took the waiver and signed it and watched as his name was added to the list. As Ryoma was about to leave the attendant whispered to get Ryoma’s attention one last time “Listen you might wanna be careful a couple of the fighters in this tournament have been turning up dead and dried up like a husk, so watch yourself OK. Oh and one last thing it looked like the one you were looking for it seemed like she was looking at her weapons, so I don't know but maybe she was looking for something knew you could try one of the weapon shops around here if you really want to find her.” Ryoma turned around and gave a thumbs up sign and said “Thank you”

With that he set off to the closet weapon shop he knew of in the area hoping to bump into the captain and either show, beg, or bribe her to let him on the ship and travel with the crew, till he found a way to join up with some pirates.

Most would think swimming for a day with a group of leatherback sea turtles in an under current would be a terrible idea. Those people would be completely right. Cameron spent the last day in the current communicating with those burnt out animals. The constant jellyfish eating makes them act like philosophers of the sea. A full day of “Man. What if all other things were underwater and we were in the air. That means we are flying and all other life is really swimming.”  Cameron felt the constant temptation of letting the Sea Kings just eat him instead of the safety in the numbers game. Instead, he swam on, anxious to get to his next destination.

The turtles came to the island that they claimed to be Cameron’s stop. He poked his head a bit above the water level. Staring at the docked ships and a crowd of people. Taking the turtles at their word he swam around the island, his tail fin propelling him with ease. The beach at the other end was empty and devoid of people. Cameron swam up to the shore, dragging his body onto the warm sand. No one was around but Cameron was unsure if it would stay that way. In order to avoid human detection, he decided to play it cool. Digging a little hole with hands, he sat in it allowing the warm sand to cover his fin. As his neck started to dry he already felt the gill slits on his neck disappear. Next the odd sensation of separation, like gluing your fingers together and suddenly feeling the glue weakening allowing them to split. That was the feeling that traveled thru his lower half. While he could grit his teeth and force the transformation faster this felt easiest. The sand shifted back to reveal a black pair of pants where the tail was.

He stood shaking the sand out before walking the short distance to the gathering crowd. The Disciple of Disciples was a yearly competition that took place on Karate Island. It was known well enough for the information to be placed books of the royal library. It was said that many strong contenders gathered to break out into a nice crew. It was said that many pirate legends came from this island alone. It was here that he decided to start his search for a good pirate crew to blend in with, a nice crew would easily get him into the world's underground information network. Besides, it would be easier to gather information and move about as a crewmate compared to a captain.

While he was thinking on the outskirts of the crowd a skinny white-haired boy brushed past him. Humans would usually go unnoticed by his eyes but Cameron felt the urge to lick the young looking man. He almost stuck his tongue out stepping behind him before remembering that licking others was not normal human behavior. He wanted to blend in enough to get picked for a crew. Not stand out as a weirdo licking other people. With a sigh and a heavy heart, he turned back towards the crowd.

Slightly shoving he made his way to the rickety looking reception desk, with the just as sketchy sign-up guy. For a second Cameron thought that if the sea turtles were not known to follow a set route. He would have sworn he was on the wrong island. “What can I do for ya?” the attendant glanced over at Cameron. “Yes, I would like to sign up for the competition sir”  The man's eyes widened as he processed Cameron’s request. “A delicate youngin like yo-self would only get hurt with all those big men. I know none of them will be using devil fruit and all that fun stuff but a full-out brawl may hurt ya.” Cameron smiled sweetly revealing an impish smile. “I believe I can take care of myself well enough.” With that Cameron grabbed the form and tried to fill it out as best as he could. His smile broadens as he read the rules. As one rule did say no supernatural fishmen, minks, or horned ones. He was technically not a fishmen even if the intent was clear, he was not breaking a rule.

Cameron looked around noticing a blue-haired girl with grenades, a pale looking monkey perched on an old guy's shoulder, and a little human girl. “Al-iight, The tournament is Shimotsuki style. So a loss does not mean ya out. Ya just fight another loser that you have not fought before. Disqualification does not happen till three loses. Am I understood?” Cameron nodded stiffly. He had the sneaking suspicion this guy did not think he could fight at all. The next smile on his face was to think about the man’s reaction to Cameron winning his fight. “Al-iight take this number and head to that group over there. Ya numba will be called in a bit. So stretch and make sure ya ready.”

It was hard for Cameron not to start skipping to his next destination. He was so excited, interesting individuals and some groups surrounded the place. A great crew mate or crew were bound to be around. He bent over to stretch reaching far down to touch his toes. He always found himself to be really flexible. Maybe because his tail fin was flexible and he human legs became the same. He did not mind or care, Cameron just knew he was getting stared at more than usual.

The Disciple of Discipline was a tournament that often drawn in an immense amount of interest from its participants, and rightly so! Not only was it a grand event where the disciples had an opportunity to prove their strength in comparison to one another, the various martial arts master of the island also took this as an opportunity to scout for anyone worthy of their interest. Still, to think that she of all people would be participating in this event was kind of unusual. She could still remember, how it had only been a few days since her fight against Heracles, and yet her heart craved for more, that sensation... that thrill of a duel was the closest thing to the hunt that she could experience right now. Silently her yellow eyes gazed at the gathering fighters that were busy signing up.

"..." So far she had not seen anyone worthwhile, a bored little sigh escaping her lips when finally her companion nudged her side lightly. "This way Noir, you're part of the dojo representatives." Master Hong explained quietly as he guided her past the crowds and toward an almost empty part of the area where people had been signing up for the event. "Dojo representatives?" Tilting her head sideways in confusion the young woman looked slightly bewildered at the explanation before Master Hong continued his explanation. "Yes, it means that you're chosen as a representative of one of Karate Island's dojos. You're fighting as my disciple." They arrived at a small building nearby the arena the fight was being held at, and upon observing a lone man seated behind the counter the stranger sat upright and bowed his head lightly. "Master Hong, to what do we own the pleasure?"

Master Hong gestured a hand lightly at Noir as he continued. "I'm entering my disciple this year. This is Noir of the Cerberus people from the Grandline." The man's eyes widened slightly in disbelief as he eyed her with a clear hint of curiosity in his eyes. "Cerberus? But she looks like an ordinary female woman to me... a pretty feisty one in looks, and high quality in certain-" Noticing his wandering gaze Noir adjusted her stance lightly, her bandaged arm resting lightly on her hip as she remarked dryly. "Are the goods to your liking, inspector?" A soft cough came from the man while Master Hong sighed in response. "Noir, show him." It didn't take long, a simple sideways stretch of her bandaged arm causing the bandages to slip loose and reveal her large monstrous claw, while a long serpent hissed behind her. "W-Wait they are real?!" The man's response caused Noir's lips to curve up slightly at his disbelief while Master Hong continued. "According to the laws, she can participate, right? Although she is able to meditate to enter a human-like form, it severely restricts her power and would be an unfair disadvantage, not to mention a slight to her opponent's honor."

The man pondered for a moment while he mused out loud. "I never thought I'd see someone from the Grandline... Fine... Fine, but we'll have to introduce some additional rules for your disciple, Master Hong! First and foremost, you're only permitted to use your arm and tail, but no bites! Any weaponry or supernatural abilities will be permitted." A light nod came from Noir as she turned her arm back to normal while watching the waiver being placed on the table. "Be careful Noir, some people have been turning up dead and drained into husks, you might draw some unwanted attention as a result of your looks, but please don't let it get to you."

A light wave of her hand was made as if she disregarded the comment. "Don't worry about me." With that said and done the young lady soon found herself back outside alongside her mentor who stated calmly. "I'm going to the spectator seats already, don't turn up too late now."

However, something had caught Noir's attention, a soft sniffing in the air following as she caught a rather pleasant scent. Of course, the huntress was quick to pursue the trail, following it amidst the crowds of people before she finally spotted the source of the scent, a young woman with long blue hair kept in a ponytail. "Hmm, excuse me..." She paused for a moment as she addressed Alexa, taking a step forwards and turning around to face her before she continued. "I couldn't happen but notice that you carry a scent foreign to this island." A soft sniff followed before she raised a finger to her nose. "Spices from foreign lands across the sea, and my nose is never wrong when it comes to scents. Are you a traveler?"

There was something about the woman's scent that caught her interest, the lingering traces of spices from her merchant ship having lingered around her, and as a result, Noir couldn't help but think about the various islands across the sea. "My name is Noir-" she paused for a second while recalling her teacher's earlier words. "A disciple of Karate Island's Master Hong." Good, she had almost spilled the beans on her teacher's lie, but fortunately for her, she had been able to cover it up just in time.

Honestly, Alexa didn't really know where she was going. At this point she was just wandering the town, the sword stolen from her father's murderer bouncing lightly on her hip as she walked. Every so often, she had to stop and ask if this was the right direction to be going to find the weapon shop. Occasionally she was told yeah, but every so often she would take the wrong turn. At some point however, she ended up finding the local blacksmith. Before she could even touch the handle of the door however, Alexa heard someone speak to her. With a raise of her eyebrow, she glanced over her shoulder, only to see someone that was dressed in what could only be described as rags that seemed to be held together by sheer force of will, and bandages going up and down one of her arms.

Admittedly, the bandages worried Alexa a bit. She knew that typically meant that someone had some level of injuries. However, what confused her even more was what the woman had to say about her..scent? Wait, what? She had to be joking. She'd taken a bath right before she got off the ship. Not even a hot one either. She forced herself to take a cold one. But then she mentioned the smell of spices. That actually caught her attention and made her turn around fully. She had been in the kitchen before, and she figured that the scent of the spices she'd used before would still be lingering on her. Of course, that also meant that this woman wasn't exactly normal. When the woman introduced herself, she sighed and figured she could do the same. She extended one of her gloved hands out to Noir.

"Well..I guess it's nice to meet you Noir. I'm Alexa Icnoyotl, Captain of the ship known as The Azure Night" She said, shaking Noir's hand if she accepted the handshake. Once that was done, she gestured for her to follow if she still wanted to talk before walking into the blacksmith's shop, knocking a few times on the frame of the door. For a few moments there was only silence, then came the sound of footsteps as someone seemed to stumble out of the back room of the store. Yep. That was the person that Edwynne had told her about. "Ah, there you are Adwynne. Edwynne told me you'd be here. Didn't think she was being serious though." She said, causing the rather toned woman to look at Alexa in confusion for a moment or two.

"Huh..so it seems ya know Ed. It'd do her some good ta send some letters back home once in a while. Well, if she told ya about me, ya must be here for somethin. So, whaddaya want?" She said as she walked past the two women in the doorway, looking around before ushering them into the back room of the store, making sure that the door closed behind them. Alexa chuckled as she settled down in the comfortable chair that was set up in the backroom. "Well, for one, Edwynne told me that you'd always been okay with making strange things. So I've got a couple requests." She said as she peeled the black gloves she wore almost all the time off of her hands, tossing them onto the desk.

"I want you to somehow make those gloves more suitable to combat. And after that, I'd like a cutlass..but would like it to all be made out of a single piece of steel. No handle, and with a guard like this one-but without the balls on it. She said, pulling her sword out of its sheath before placing it on the desk. To anyone that was even remotely familiar with the Marines, it was obvious that the sword that she had pulled out was stolen from an officer. But yet..she presented herself as the captain of a Merchant Ship. Strange.

Still, the owner of the shop pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. The sword'll be easy enough..lots of people come in here wanting more intimidating weapons..the gloves..you're gonna need to leave them here. That's gonna take some time." She said, causing Alexa to nod. This woman really wasn't what she seemed to be..was she?

Ryoma knew all of the blacksmiths on the island and knew which one people would point someone new in town towards. Though Ryoma did stop a few people to ask if they have seen a blue haired woman passing by, they had for the most part confirmed that she had been this way. He needed to be careful, he didn't want to seem desperate to his potential employer/free ride off this island. After a bit he finally found Adwynne’s place. He didn't remember it as much as he would have liked too but then again its been a couple of years since he was even near a smith, which sadden him yet emboldened his new dream.

Ryoma had just gotta to Adwynne's smithy when he noticed that the door was closed, which seeing as it was after lunch already was quite weird especially when he found the door locked. So he decided to knock albeit a little too hard. “Hey Adwynne, are you home? I need to ask you some things, come on open up. I know we haven't spoken in ages, but I think you have met someone I need to talk too.” Ryoma didn't hear anything back as an answer. Ryoma started to worry he didn't wanna be in another situation like last time, so he did the next best thing he could think of he kicked the door at the lock to knock it down. “I’m sorry about the door but I need to make sure your ok. Losing one blacksmith was enough can't lose you too,” Ryoma said then noticed that there wasn't anyone in the front of the shop and that it was perfectly fine except for the busted down door.

Adwynne came out of the back of the shop looking furious at Ryoma. “Oh, heieheihei, I see that you're fine and so is your shop,” Ryoma said as he looked around trying to keep his eyes off the busted door. “What is wrong with you, your forget your manners when you stopped being a smith,” Adwynne shouted with a glare that if she could she would murder him. “Listen, I’m with some special customers right now why don't you come back later then we can talk all you want, alright.” Ryoma had to ask “Is your special customer a captain with blue hair, cause if so I would like to speak with her in regards to her ship.” Adwynne looked Ryoma up and down and issued out “What would a captain want of a washed up blacksmith turn martial artist anyway, you would probably be useless on any ship that would have you,” It hurt to hear Adwynne say such things but he knew she was right “but you are a hard worker and I've seen what you can do even without a forge and hammer, give me one sec, k.” Adwynne then went into the backroom, Roma could hear whispers being said, while he hoped he could get a chance to talk with this captain.

Ryoma as he waited decided to take a look around the store trying to think of what to say if this person would meet with him. He had forgotten how much he missed the smithy and the selling of the wears. Someone coughed behind him and Ryoma turned around to see that Adwynne looked like she was about to say something, though her face did not betray whether or not it was good or bad news.

The confusion that was evident on the young woman's expression amused Noir, perhaps because she assumed her choice of words had confused the lady, but after a moment she chuckled heartily and shook her head in amusement. "Don't be looking too surprised, there are all sorts of people in the world, and normality is rather unusual once you start traveling across different islands."

The brief handshake was eagerly returned by the obsidian-haired warrior who decided to accept the invitation to accompany Alexa into the blacksmith store. The huntress had decided to let Alexa do whatever business she had to deal with, instead preferring to simply look around the store for anything that caught her attention. It wasn't exactly that she needed a weapon or armor with the power at her disposal, but nonetheless, she did consider looking for an upgrade to her gauntlet blade, even if she couldn't find any materials that were to her liking. It was a pity, but for the time being, she had not much else to rely on.

"Captain hmm..." She mused the word as she thought about the words spoken by her brother years ago. According to him the Captain of a ship was known as the leader, just like the Chieftain was for a tribe, meaning that they held a lot of power and responsibility. Only after Alexa had finished her conversation with the blacksmith, a curious glance made by Noir during the display of the peculiar sword she addressed Alexa once more.

"So you're a Captain of a crew? You'll have to forgive my ignorance since I'm not familiar with seafaring, but the term Captain suggests you're one with plenty of experience or power..." A cursory gaze traveled along Alexa's frame before she hummed softly. "Or in your case perhaps both~ Have you visited any interesting places recently?"

It was a casual question as she continued her explanation. "I'm rather fond of stories, and unfortunately an associate of mine decided to enroll me into a certain 'event', so I'll be stuck on this island until then..." she laughed briefly before her gaze settled onto Alexa. "Of course you don't need to answer if you don't wish to tell me any juicy stories about adventures, I merely assumed a lady like yourself knew her fair share of tales~"

With a population of muscle and pride, nobody would expect snow-haired Weasel to be walking amidst them. He did just that, humming a tune as he slipped his hands through many pockets. Humming a calm tune, he filled his pockets with coin progressively. "Take a moment to remind yourself~♪" Every now and again, he swirled himself around larger targets and slipped through denser groups as an "accident". Before anyone could suspect his sticky fingers, he'd already be ghost. "...To take a moment and find youself~♪" His melody was soft and calm, playing along with the island's breeze brushing through his hair.

He felt loose, dancing and dashing while he built his fortune inch-by-inch. After a while of stealing, he eventually made his way towards a stand offering well-done meats. Awful, but he had to compromise for food. Plucking a coin that somehow stuck to his fingers from when he bumped into someone, he purchased his well-done meat and begrudgingly ate it. Eventually he came to a sort of registration desk for a special tournament happening that was apparently annual and very much part of the Karate culture. Naaaaah....

Weasel saw the island around him as a wonderful kaleidoscope, ignoring all the looks speaking many different emotions. Stares just screaming, "I'm better than you, skinny boy. Get off my island," or "so eccentric, hideous twink!". Weasel just ignored them, or at least pretended to. When he realized he wasn't actually going to make much by simply picking off the pockets of those around him and that he would eventually fight someone, he scouted out what he assumed would be a decent place to steal from.

While Weasel took a moment and stopped, peering over at a blacksmith's shop, he heard angry steps and infuriated voices approaching. Turning his head, he saw a trio of angry martial-artists who seemed to have been missing their funds. "Hello gentlemen, how may I help you?" "Cut the shit, white-head. We're missing our coin purses and we ALL bumped into you!" the largest spoke, cracking his knuckles. "Who, me? Oh, I disagree but I guess that won't stop you from swinging..." Weasel spoke with his typical monotone voice, scratching his head and closing his eyes.

Taking a moment, he was prepared to open his eyes before being flashed with blue-tinted image of a heavy fist crashing down on him. His eyes darted open and the snow-haired merchant tumbled low to the ground. The wall near him exploded and he rose his hands. "Woah, how about we stay calm, right? I have money, my money, and I can pay you!" The large man yanked his fist out from the debris, seething with rage. "That's not YOUR money that's OUR money!" Weasel rolled his eyes, slipping a pair of shuko onto his hands with the claw-side on his palms.

"So? Are you going to find all thirty, forty or maybe even FIFTY people I could have stolen from? It's MY money." The trio didn't quite like what he was saying, so they respectfully retorted by rushing him. Weasel was a bit too slippery, slip-sliding through the crowd and into the alley by the smith's shop. Well, at least today's a little less boring...